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Chapters: 

00:41 • een team of oxen in Rajasthan

03:17 • a school in Rajasthan

06:16 • Samwas, a village in Rajasthan

08:11 • Shahabad, a village in Haryana

08:57 • Shahabad, school

12:54 • Bodhgaya, Bihar, a school

15:12 • a village near Bodhgaya

India is a huge country with countless architectural treasures and at least as many natural wonders.

But it is not only the sumptuous palaces of the Maharajas, nor the gigantic mausoleums like the Taj Mahal in India. Everyday life in itself is a huge change of scenery for a Westerner.

This film shows some images taken in different parts of India.

Rajasthan countryside

Rajasthan is one of the poorest states of the Indian confederation and its semi-desert climate is one of the causes. Irrigation is therefore capital in the countryside of Rajasthan.

Persian wheel (saqja)

To see a peasant busy drawing water thanks to an ingenious mechanism driven by a pair of oxen turning in circles is a great luck. Even if the wheel did not turn and even if the water did not flow, just the sight of these oxen would be enough to make the happiness of any photographer.

The horns painted in blue, wearing colorful decorative fabrics around the forehead and a pretty collar at the end of which hangs a bell, these cows are particularly aesthetic.

The irrigation system known as the "Persian Wheel" or "saqja" is very old, since it was already in use in the 3rd century BC. The principle of the saqja consists of a horizontal wheel driven by the force of the oxen, operating a vertical wheel with buckets or buckets to draw water from a well and discharge it into an irrigation canal.

A village school in Rajasthan

The thirst for learning of young Indians is not quenched by the cruel lack of educational materials. Students are seated on the floor and use their knees to put down their notebooks and take notes.

A village in Rajasthan

The village we visited is probably very comparable to all the villages in the region. Elders sitting on their benches or chairs watching the children play while the women tend the animals.

A school in the state of Haryana

A traditional village on the edge of the highway where locals go about their business and children go to school in uniform and sing the national anthem in honor of tourists ...

Another school, in Bakraur near Boghdaya in Bihar.

Here too the children go to school in uniform, and the welcome is just as warm as in Haryana. Another song sung by one of the students.

In the village of Bakraur, Bodhgaya

And here again, the villagers are busy with their usual jobs and a group of tourists passing by is always a kind of event ...

about the 4 places in this film:

The city of Bodhgaya in the state of Bihar in India is above all a city of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi temple complex. It is under the ficus of the pagodas (or rather an ancestor of it) which is in the enclosure of this complex that the Buddha attains enlightenment (nirvana). Since the dawn of time, Bodhgaya has been a renowned religious center for both Buddhists and Hindus.

Bodhgaya is the most important of the Buddhist sites in India.

small village in Rajasthan
Raipura Brahman is a small village like so many others, between Agra and Jaipur
little haryana village

Spoken comments in the film: 

A team of oxen with horns painted blue and carrying bells and pompoms busy turning a wheeled well (Persian wheel or saqja) is a godsend on the roads of Rajasthan. 

But India is not only made of palaces and cows. There are also schools. We visited a few. And yes, the atmosphere there is a little different from that of our Western schools. 

We also walked through different villages in Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar. The villagers gave us a warm welcome each time, even if they were a little surprised to see a few tourists arrive. 

Images and videos of some villages in Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar, school visits, field work and daily life in the Indian countryside